WCC assembly elects Central Committee
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A UMNS photo by Igor Sperotto, WCC Delegates elect members to the World Council of Churches Central Committee on Feb. 22.
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Delegates
elect members to the World Council of Churches Central Committee on
Feb. 22 during the 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The 150-member
Central Committee is the WCC’s main decision-making body between
assemblies, which are held about every seven years. Five United
Methodists were elected: Bishop Sally Dyck of Minneapolis; the Rev.
Larry Pickens, chief executive, United Methodist Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns; Lois McCullough Dauway, an executive
with the Women’s Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries;
Motoe Yamada, a youth delegate from San Jose, Calif.; and Akissi
Jeannette Aneye from Cote d’Ivoire. A UMNS photo by Igor Sperotto, World
Council of Churches. Photo #06-188. Accompanies UMNS story #111.
2/23/06 |
Feb. 23, 2006
By Linda Bloom*
PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL (UMNS) — Five United Methodists have been elected
to the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee.
The elections took place Feb. 22, during the WCC’s
9th Assembly in Porto Alegre. Four U.S. United Methodists were elected: Bishop Sally
Dyck of Minneapolis; the Rev. Larry Pickens, chief executive, United Methodist
Commission on Christian
Unity and Interreligious Concerns; Lois McCullough Dauway, an executive with
the Women’s Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries;
and Motoe Yamada, a youth delegate from San Jose, Calif. Dauway will be serving
her second term on the committee. Also elected, from the United Methodist Church in Cote
d’Ivoire, was
Akissi Jeannette Aneye. The 150-member Central Committee is the WCC’s main
decision-making body between assemblies, which occur every seven years
or so. The new committee
has 63 women (42 percent), 22 youth (15 percent) and six indigenous people
(4 percent). About 65 percent, or 97 committee members, are ordained. Members of other Methodist denominations elected to the Central Committee
included Bishop McKinley Young, African Methodist Episcopal Church, USA;
Evelyn Parker, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, USA; the Most Rev. Robert
Aboagye-Mensah, Methodist Church of Ghana; Itayi Ndudzo, Methodist Church
in Zimbabwe; and Bishop Ivan Manuel Abrahams, Methodist Church of Southern
Africa, South Africa. Also, Bishop Taranath S. Sagar, Methodist Church in India; Hae-Sun Jung,
Korean Methodist Church; Anthony Row, Methodist Church in Malaysia; the Rev.
William Premkumar Ebenezer Joseph, Methodist Church of Sri Lanka; and the
Rev. Heather Morris, Methodist Church in Ireland. Also, Bishop Carlos Poma Apaza, Evangelical Methodist Church in Bolivia;
Magali Nascimento Cunha, Methodist Church in Brazil; Geraldine Varea, Methodist
Church in Fiji and Rotuma; and the Rev. Sanele Faasua Lavatai, Methodist
Church of Samoa. The assembly also appointed presidents from each region
and for the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches. They have voice, but
no vote, on the Central
Committee and promote ecumenism and interpret the council’s work, particularly
in their own regions. The WCC eight presidents are the Rev. Simon Dossou, Methodist Church in
Benin; the Rev. Soritua Nababan, Protestant Christian Batak Church (Indonesia);
the Rev. Ofelia Ortega, Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba; Mary Tanner,
Church of England; the Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson, United Church of Christ
(USA); John Taroanui Doom, Maohi Protestant Church (French Polynesia); Archbishop
Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania;
and His Holiness Abune Paulos, Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New
York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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